PLAY AND CHARACTER NOTES FROM THE DIRECTORS
Little Shop of Horrors | As You Like It | Doubt | The Book of Liz | Anon(ymous)
| Pride and Prejudice
Little Shop of Horrors
Book and Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Directed by Rick Kuebler
Performance Dates: August 30 to September 27, 2008
A down-and out skid row floral assistant becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant with a mysterious craving for fresh blood. Soon "Audrey II" grows into an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore who offers him fame and fortune in exchange for feeding its growing appetite, finally revealing itself to be an alien creature poised for global domination!
One of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time, this affectionate spoof of 1950s sci-fi movies has become a house-hold name, thanks to a highly successful film version and a score by the songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.
Cast (8 men, 5 women, plus chorus)
SEYMOUR KRELBORN - insecure, well-meaning nerd who discovers Audrey 2 and works at the flower shop (mid to late 20s) Low A to High G
AUDREY - kind hearted bleach-blond bimbo who works at the flower shop (mid to late 20s) Low A to High D
MR. MUSHNIK - the owner of the flower shop - crusty older man (50s) Low G to High E flat
ORIN SCRIVELLO - tall, dark, sadistic dentist, Audrey's boyfriend (early 30s)
AGENT - talent scout (older male)
MRS. LUCE - magazine editor (older female)
BERNSTEIN - NBC talent scout (older male)
1st CUSTOMER - male as called for in cast (indeterminate age)
PATRICK MARTIN - representative of World Botanical Enterprises (older male)
RONETTE - a young and hip street urchin who can harmonize (late teens to early twenties)
CYRSTAL - a young and hip street urchin who can harmonize (late teens to early twenties)
CHIFFON - a young and hip street urchin who can harmonize (late teens to early twenties)
AUDREY 2 - the voice of the plant - a cross between Otis Redding, Barry White and Wolfman Jack
CHORUS - different types and ages
As You Like It
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Judith Allen
Performance Dates: November 1 to November 29, 2008
This production will be an adaptation of William Shakespeare's pastoral romance As You Like It. Shakespeare used the Pastoral genre to "cast a critical eye on social practices that produce injustice and unhappiness, and to make fun of anti-social, foolish and self-destructive behavior through the theme of romantic love." (Sheffield Univ. English Text.) The script will be edited and the order of some scenes changed. The language will remain Shakespearean. Scholars, politicians and the media have made comparisons between the situation in Iraq today and the situation in Vietnam in the 1960s. Racial and political tensions were high in America in the 1960s. Riots in the streets and bombings of banks and offices exploded in the news weekly. The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in 1968 disillusioned and bruised the American psyche. The youth of the 1960s sought to rebel against the establishment and seek harmony in a utopia of their own making. The setting of this As You Like It will be reminiscent of the "summer of peace and love" of 1969 Woodstock and will incorporate music and protest rallies suggesting the similarities between the political climate of the 1960s and today.
Cast (10-12 men, 4-6 women)
Primary speaking parts with doubling possible for all):
Duke Senior, age 40+, living in banishment in the Forest of Arden
Duke Frederick, age 40+, his brother and usurper
Amiens, age 30+, courtier to Duke Senior, a musician
Jacques, (pronounced Jake-weez) age 30+, courtier to Duke Senior
Oliver de Boys, age 20+, elder brother to Orlando
Orlando de Boys, age 20+, banished younger brother and in love with Rosalind
Adam, age 40+, elderly servant to the de Boys
Touchstone, age 40+, a clown of wit and satire to Duke Frederick, who accompanies Rosalind and Celia to Forest Arden
Corin, age 30+, a shepherd
Silvius, age 20+, a shepherd, in love with Phebe
Rosalind, age 20+, daughter of banished Duke Senior, flees to Forest Arden disguised as a man, in love with Orlando
Celia, age 20+, daughter of Duke Frederick, cousin to Rosalind, flees to Forest Arden with Rosalind
Phebe, age 20+, a comely shepherdess, falls in love with Rosalind as Ganymede
Audrey, age 20+, a simple country lass, wooed by Touchstone
Ensemble: Up to 4 players to play various servants, courtiers, soldiers, protesters and shepherds/shepherdesses, many with speaking parts
Musicians: I also am looking for 2-3 musicians who can play acoustic guitar, flute, tin whistle, bongos, bodhran or any combination of these to play folk music of the 1968-1970 era and who also double in speaking parts.
Doubt
By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Bruce K. Freestone
Performance Dates: January 3 to January 31, 2009
Did he or didn't he? What is knowable? What is the truth? These are the fundamental questions asked by John Patrick Shanley's parable Doubt. And yet these issues of great meaning: faith, truthfulness, determination to do what's right at any cost are mostly beside the point. The real conflict comes in the minds of the audience. The story is about a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, where a priest might be carrying on an inappropriate relationship with the school's lone black student. When faced with a theatrical experience so rich, so layered with possibilities, for which there is no single clear answer, with whom do you identify? Ambiguity is the key. And that is the beauty of Doubt.
Cast (1 man, 3 women)
Sister Aloysius - Principle of the school. Fierce in her protective role. 50+
Father Flynn - Charismatic younger priest. A compassionate teacher. 27 to 37
Sister James - Rational, caring, capable teacher. 25 to 30
Mrs. Muller - School of hard knocks African American. 40+
The Book of Liz
By David Sedaris and Amy Sedaris
Directed by Sydney Parks
Performance Dates: February 21 to March 21, 2009
Sister Elizabeth Donderstock is Squeamish. She makes cheeseballs that sustain her entire Squeamish community. After many years of feeling unappreciated she decides to set out on her own. On her adventure she meets many interesting folks...a cockney speaking Ukrainian couple, a bunch of alcoholics. She must decide if she wants to stay in the outside world or return to her cheese ball eating brethren. Oh, have I mentioned she has a massive sweating problem? The Book of Liz is an absurdist satire, goofy and completely off beat. To truly understand the style I suggest watching "Strangers with Candy" on comedy central to prepare for the audition. "Strangers" can also be found on DVD.
Cast (2 men, 2 women)
Actor 1 - Reverend Tollhouse: 50-60 years old, Leader of the Squeamish Village, self righteous, bossy, views himself as a father figure to the village. Actor 1 will also play the characters Visil and Duncan Trask.
Actor 2 - Sister Elizabeth Donderstock:50-60 years old, Opinionated (for a Squeamish woman), curious, kind hearted, makes cheeseball like the wind. Actor 2 also plays the character Brother Hesikiah.
Actor 3 - Brother Nathaniel Brightbee: early 30's, New Reverend to the village, good looking, arrogant, tries to overstep his bounds (of course).
Actor 3 - also plays the characters of Yvone, Donny Polk and Rudy Bruton. Will need a cockney accent for the role of Yvone.
Actor 4 - Sister Constance Butterworth: early fifties, A busy body, talks so quickley it is questionable how she manages to breath. Actor 4 also plays the characters of Oxana, Cecily Cole, Sophisticated Visitor, Doctor Barb Ginley, and Ms. Yolanda Foxley. Will need a cockney accent for the role of Oxana.
**** It should be noted that the age of the actor does not matter. What matters is the ability to play all of the different characters.
Anon(ymous)
Naomi Iizuka
Directed by Peter Anthony
(part of the Beet Street series on immigration: Finding Home)
Performance Dates: April 4 to May 2, 2009
A contemporary take on Homer's The Odyssey. The play underscores the theme of Finding Home as it relates to the 21st Century plight of refugees and immigrants. The poitnant story follows the journey of a young man, displaced by war, in his search to reunite with his mother. The action progresses, at cinematic speed, through 25 uninterrupted scenes, best described as a theatrical feast for the senses with storm-tossed seas, evocations of war and the tumult of the big city, a descent into the hellish subterranean haunts of the urban homeless, the surreal nightmare of a bloody, opera-loving, one-eyed butcher; the armoatic atmosphere of a curry restaurant, and a windswept desert on the border of Mexico. The result is a vivid montage of humanity with characters drawn from both the relaity of today's headliens, and from the imaginative scope of classic myth.
Cast (5 men, 6 women - with doubling, plus a mixed ensemble)
ANON - late teens to mid-20s - ethnic appearance - a young man, analogous to Homer's central chaacter, Odysseus; a refuge from a war-torn country
NEMASANI - 40s to mid-50s - ethnic appearnace - Anon's mother, also a refugee
NAJA - late teens to mid-20s - ethnic appearnace - analogous to the goddess Athena in the Odyssey
YURI MACKUS - late teens to mid-20s - ethnic appearance - manager of a sewing factor; also plays STRYGAL; requires stage combat
SENATOR LAIUS - 40s to mid-50s - caucasian - a war hero; also plays MR. ZYCLO, a butcher analogous to the Cyclops in The Odyssey; and a NICE AMERICAN FATHER
HELEN LAIUS - 30s to mid-50s - caucasian, very attractive - the senator's wife; also plays ZYCLO'S PET BIRD and NICE AMERICAN MOTHER
CALISTA - late teens to mid-20s - caucasian - a poiled rich girl, analyogous to the nymph Calypso in The Odyssey; also plays NICE AMERICAN DAUGHTER and SEWING LADY #2
ALI - mid-40s to mid-50s - ethnic appearance - owner of an Asian restuarant; also doubles as IGNACIO, the ghost father of Belen, a Latin American refugee
NARSEEN - mid teens to early 20s - ethnic appearnace - daughter of Ali; also plays BELEN, a Latin American refugee
RITU - late 30s to late 40s - ethnic appearance - wife of Ali, the restaurant cook; also plays SERZA, a bartender and SEWING LADY #1
PASCAL - mid 20s to mid 30s - ethnic appearance - a West African refugee
ENSEMBLE - the actors in the above roles also will be in the Ensemble, where appropriate, for THE CHORUS OF REFUGEES, THE SEWING LADIES and THE SHADOWS. Please note that supplmental actors may be cast for these parts.
STREET MUSICIANS - number to be determined
Pride and Prejudice
Adapted by Jon Jory
from the novel by Jane Austen
Directed by Wendy S. Moore
Performance Dates: May 23 to June 20, 2009
All the wit and romance of Jane Austin's classic 1813 novel come to life in this refreshingly fast-paced and engaging new adaptation. Finding a husband is hardly Elizabeth Bennett's urgent priority. But with four sisters, an overzealous matchmaking mother, and a string of unsuitable suitors, it's difficult to escape the subject. When the independent-minded Elizabeth meets the handsome but enigmatic Mr. Darcy, she is determined not to let her feelings triumph over her own good sense. -but the truth turns out to be slipperier than it seems. In a society where subtle snubs and deceit proliferate, is it possible for Elizabeth and Darcy to look beyond his pride and her prejudice, and to make the best match of all? (taken from Playscripts, Inc.)
Cast (6 men, 8 women)
Mr. Bennet- Father to all those girls and husband to the woman who thinks only about marrying all of them off
Mrs. Bennet-The overzealous matchmaking mother
And their daughters-
- Jane Bennet - the eldest and most beautiful
- Elizabeth Bennet - the independent one
- Mary Bennet - the reader
(also plays Charlotte Lucas - friend of Elizabeth)
- Kitty - one of the youngest
- Lydia - the other of the youngest…with a wild streak (also plays Georgiana-Mr. Darcy's sister)
Mr. Darcy - a wealthy young man who is handsome, quiet and often misunderstood.
Mr. Bingley - wealthy young man who is love interest of Jane (also plays Col. Fitzwilliam-yet another admirer and Servant)
Sir William Lucas - host of the ball (also plays Mr. Collins - a cousin and soon to be clergyman who finds Elizabeth to be a possible wife and Mr. Gardiner-who takes Jane to London)
Miss Bingley - Mr. Bingley's sister who is convinced of her superiority (also plays Mrs. Gardiner-who takes Jane to London)
Ball Guest (also plays George Wickham-Officer who flirts with Elizabeth and runs off with Lydia)
Ball Guest (also plays Lady Catherine De Bourgh-patroness of Mr. Collins who believes her daughter to be betrothed to Mr. Darcy and Housekeeper-of Mr. Darcy's estate)
Ball Guest (also plays Officer and Servant)
|
